Breaking Through the Dreaded Plateau

[txfitmom]

I need some suggestions for workouts that would help me break through a plateau. I have been at the same weight and size for 3+ months. Initially the first 20 pounds or so was easy to lose. Now I have stalled out at the last 10-15 pounds. I have tried everything, TA, KCM, Jari Love, barre, etc. I am watching what I eat and have even tried increasing my exercise time each day from 1 hour to 1.5 hours and still have not seen any changes. I am wondering if I am struggling so much because I just turned 40 and my body is starting to get really stubborn about dropping the pounds. I am including more walking, but any other workouts, systems, anything anyone can recommend that really made a difference when you got stuck on a plateau?

[horsemom2]

After trying to bust through my neverending plateau for several years, I decided to stop stressing myself out about it, both mentally and physically. Everytime I thought I had found a solution, I would wind up right back where I had started, plateaued at my very stubborn setpoint. I have accepted where my body has landed based on my current lifestyle of regular exercise and mostly healthy eating which I can continue for the rest of my life. The BMI chart may disagree with Mother Nature and my genetics but I am accepting the cards dealt me realistically.

Barb S
who isn't expecting to have the body I had at 22 at 62 but hey this 62 year old body is in much better shape than it was in my 30s and 40s when plagued by chronic pain

[EnglishIvy]

Have you tried heavy weights? Nothing changed my body like STS. I had tried most everything on your list (except TA) at one point. Those programs kept me toned and helped me not to gain weight but they never leaned me out completely. I had even tried Cathe's other weight programs. STS helped me to lift heavy weight and that really did the trick like nothing else. Seriously, I lost the last hard pounds (about 17lbs) and even more than I thought I needed originally. The only real downside was the equipment needed for the program. I don't have an exercise room and it really clogged my living room. But I gained a lot of strength from the program and am able to do other more advanced workouts now (like suspension training etc) which has helped me to keep my progress. HTH.

[Blackadar]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but 75% of weight loss is due to diet and not working out...a fact that I'm painfully reminded of every time I have a bad food weekend. So even increasing your workouts may not help - you may just consume more calories to compensate.

I agree that a muscle-building routine may be good for weight loss (or at least weight redistribution). Rather than going with something like STS, I think kettlebells may be better for the cardio aspect. RKS is pretty awesome and short enough to combine it with other workouts. STS is pretty good if you don't want to do KBs. Maybe even Chalene Extreme alongside some of your other stuff.

Finally, it's normal for your body to plateau for a while, even for a couple of months.

[Hoodone]

I was at a plateau for about 8 years! I have finally dropped 10 lbs by food journaling, something I had never tried. I ate clean before, but was just eating too many calories. I had a little mini plateau that I broke by being HONEST with my food journaling and I did a bit of calorie cycling, up AND down. Now that I am at my "goal weight", I think I'm going to try for another 5# more. Good luck breaking your plateau!

[KarenJo]

One of the things I found very helpful was cycling my workout intensity. I'd work my way up from easy for me weeks to hard for me ones over a couple of months, stay there only for two or three weeks, then take a week off. I always lost weight during that week off and the following easier week. I think it was a combination of being able to cut back on my intake and my body having the down time and extra energy to be able to make changes and build up the systems used in those harder weeks.

[txfitmom]

Originally Posted by EnglishIvy

Have you tried heavy weights? Nothing changed my body like STS. I had tried most everything on your list (except TA) at one point. Those programs kept me toned and helped me not to gain weight but they never leaned me out completely. I had even tried Cathe's other weight programs. STS helped me to lift heavy weight and that really did the trick like nothing else. Seriously, I lost the last hard pounds (about 17lbs) and even more than I thought I needed originally. The only real downside was the equipment needed for the program. I don't have an exercise room and it really clogged my living room. But I gained a lot of strength from the program and am able to do other more advanced workouts now (like suspension training etc) which has helped me to keep my progress. HTH.

I have been thinking of trying STS or something similar. I have the Gym Style workouts and tried those and did not see much change, but maybe I didn't rotate through them long enough. I know that I lose weight really well when I go to the gym and do weight training. I have had trouble replicating these results at home. So, in your opinion, do you think STS is the closest thing to replicating the type of weight training workout done at a gym?

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Maybe even Chalene Extreme alongside some of your other stuff. Finally, it's normal for your body to plateau for a while, even for a couple of months.

I actually have Chalene Extreme!! Maybe I should give it a try. I did it briefly a couple of years ago, but I had already lost weight and was where I wanted to be so I didn't notice if it made any difference or not. My only thing with Chalene Extreme is that she moves a little fast through some of the exercises, but I think I could just go at my own pace.

Originally Posted by Hoodone

I was at a plateau for about 8 years! I have finally dropped 10 lbs by food journaling, something I had never tried. I ate clean before, but was just eating too many calories. I had a little mini plateau that I broke by being HONEST with my food journaling and I did a bit of calorie cycling, up AND down. Now that I am at my "goal weight", I think I'm going to try for another 5# more. Good luck breaking your plateau!

I will try food journaling again. I did do better when I was entering my food into Fitbit.

Originally Posted by KarenJo

One of the things I found very helpful was cycling my workout intensity. I'd work my way up from easy for me weeks to hard for me ones over a couple of months, stay there only for two or three weeks, then take a week off. I always lost weight during that week off and the following easier week. I think it was a combination of being able to cut back on my intake and my body having the down time and extra energy to be able to make changes and build up the systems used in those harder weeks.

I like the idea of cycling the workout intensity. I have been trying to do this already, but sometimes I just have trouble picking out what workout to do to get the most results for my goal. I will have to look into this more.

Originally Posted by horsemom2

After trying to bust through my neverending plateau for several years, I decided to stop stressing myself out about it, both mentally and physically. Everytime I thought I had found a solution, I would wind up right back where I had started, plateaued at my very stubborn setpoint. I have accepted where my body has landed based on my current lifestyle of regular exercise and mostly healthy eating which I can continue for the rest of my life. The BMI chart may disagree with Mother Nature and my genetics but I am accepting the cards dealt me realistically.

I am trying not to stress out about it as much, but I guess I just don't want to completely give up. I am definitely willing to accept my body weighing a little more as I get older. If I even lost 5 more pounds I would be happy enough with the way I look, but right now I just feel so unfit because most of the weight is in my lower body.

Anyway here are some of the workouts I have (anybody want to suggest what to start with):
-Chalene Extreme (also have Turbo Jam)
-Brazil Butt Lift
-KCM (Muscle Definition, TLC, Split Sessions, and Body Training)
-Cathe (all the Gym Style workouts, Butts and Guts, some of her step workouts, Drillmax)
-Jari Love (pretty much all of them)
-Slim Series
-Supreme 90 (I bought this for my hubby, but he never even tried it)
-Body Bar (Deep Definition, Equanimity, and one of them that has a mix of different workouts)

I guess it is possible that most of the workouts I am doing are more toning than really enough to build muscle.

[bee]

Just a little more food for thought...... I'm 49 and was stuck at a certain weight for a while. I work out consistently -- sometimes hard, sometimes not as hard. Well, this summer we took a two week vacation and I knew the workout situation might be dicey -- I just went with the flow. The food situation was different -- instead of being able to snack all day long, I was pretty much fixed at three meals a day. They were not necessarily clean meals. I did walk a lot, and I did a couple of body weight workouts here and there. Well, I lost six pounds in that two weeks. I have continued the downward trend since getting home. I snack more often, but I try to snack on fruits and veggies only, and I try to really keep it to being really hungry, not just bored. I think the complete change of everything really helped me (perhaps mentally more than anything). I know that's not exactly easy to just order up (the complete change). FWIW.

[icebergslim]

Originally Posted by EnglishIvy

Have you tried heavy weights? Nothing changed my body like STS. I had tried most everything on your list (except TA) at one point. Those programs kept me toned and helped me not to gain weight but they never leaned me out completely. I had even tried Cathe's other weight programs. STS helped me to lift heavy weight and that really did the trick like nothing else. Seriously, I lost the last hard pounds (about 17lbs) and even more than I thought I needed originally. The only real downside was the equipment needed for the program. I don't have an exercise room and it really clogged my living room. But I gained a lot of strength from the program and am able to do other more advanced workouts now (like suspension training etc) which has helped me to keep my progress. HTH.

Yeah, I was going to suggest heavy lifting, here. From what the poster stated, I did not see P90X, CLX, Supreme 90 or STS in the mix. Even some of Cathe's heavy lifting from Power Hour or Intensity series would fit in here. Also, any short workouts like any tabata, HIIT or body weight exercises? Those helped me tremendously.

[Peggy T]

I started logging everything on myfitnesspal.com and it's helped me to lose 3 pounds of my never budging 15.